With over seventy total researchers during the summer, the Furman University Chemistry Department boasts one of the largest undergraduate research programs in the nation. The summer of 2014 marked the 50th consecutive program in which undergraduates, masters students, postdoctoral fellows, faculty mentors, and visiting faculty from area schools work together over a ten-week period in a wide variety of scientific research projects. The undergraduate students, who receive stipends for the summer, carry out independent investigations in the areas of analytical, inorganic, physical, organic and bio-organic chemistry. This program would not be possible without the support of wide variety of public and private sources.
These student/faculty collaborations produced the following research papers that were published in peer-reviewed journals.
Submissions from 2024
Stability and Structure of Potentially Atmospherically Relevant Glycine Ammonium Bisulfate Clusters, Annapoorani Hariharan, Conor J. Bready, Jack G. Ajello, Samantha H. Black, George C. Shields, and Christopher J. Johnson
Ligand-to-metal charge-transfer states in emissive d0 metallocenes: Design strategies for titanocene based photocatalysts, Paul S. Wagenknecht
Submissions from 2023
Conducting research at primarily undergraduate institutions, Nicholas D. Ball, Maria A. Gomez, Brian P. Rempel, Elaine R. Farkas, Tori E. Makal, George C. Shields, Carol A. Parish, Blakely W. Tresca, Elizabeth G. McGinitie, and Emily Edwards
Design Strategies for Luminescent Titanocenes: Improving the Photoluminescence and Photostability of Arylethynyltitanocenes, Matilda Barker, Thomas J. Whittemore, Henry C. London, Jack M. Sledesky, Elizabeth A. Harris, Tiffany M. Smith Pellizzeri, Colin D. McMillen, and Paul S. Wagenknecht
Garcinolic Acid Distinguishes Between GACKIX Domains and Modulates Interaction Networks, Meghan E. Breen, Stephen T. Joy, Omari J. Baruti, Matthew S. Beyersdorf, Madeleine J. Henley, Samantha N. De Salle, Peter D. Ycas, Azya Croskey, Tomasz Cierpicki, William CK Pomerantz, and Anna K. Mapp
Quantum chemical modeling of organic enhanced atmospheric nucleation: A critical review, Jonas Elm, Daniel Ayoubi, Morten Engsvang, Andreas Buchgraitz Jensen, Yosef Knattrup, Jakub Kubecka, Conor J. Bready, Vance R. Fowler, Shannon E. Harold, Olivia M. Longsworth, and George C. Shields
Prebiotic dimer and trimer peptide formation in gas-phase atmospheric nanoclusters of water, Shannon E. Harold, Skyler L. Warf, and George C. Shields
The driving effects of common atmospheric molecules for formation of clusters: the case of sulfuric acid, formic acid, hydrochloric acid, ammonia, and dimethylamine, Olivia M. Longsworth, Conor J. Bready, and George C. Shields
The driving effects of common atmospheric molecules for formation of clusters: the case of sulfuric acid, nitric acid, hydrochloric acid, ammonia, and dimethylamine, Olivia N. Longsworth, Conor J. Bready, Macie S. Joines, and George C. Shields
Mass spectrometry imaging of hair identifies daily maraviroc adherence in HPTN 069/ACTG A5305, Elias P. Rosen, Nicole R. White, William M. Gilliland Jr., Roy R. Gerona, Monica Gandhi, K. Rivet Amico, Kenneth H. Mayer, Roy M. Gulick, and Angela D. M. Kashuba
Submissions from 2022
Probing Free Energy of Small Water Clusters: Revisiting Classical Nucleation Theory, Ali C. Afzalifar, George C. Shields, Vance R. Fowler, and Robin H.A. Ras
The Driving Effects of Common Atmospheric Molecules for Formation of Prenucleation Clusters: The Case of Sulfuric Acid, Formic Acid, Nitric Acid, Ammonia, and Dimethyl Amine, Conor J. Bready, Vance R. Fowler, Leah A. Juechter, Luke A. Kurfman, Grace E. Mazaleski, and George C. Shields
Amino Acids Compete with Ammonia in Sulfuric Acid-Based Atmospheric Aerosol Prenucleation: The Case of Glycine and Serine, Conor J. Bready, Sara Vanovac, Tuguldur T. Odbadrah, and George C. Shields
A Plausible Prebiotic One-Pot Synthesis of Orotate and Pyruvate Suggestive of Common Protometabolic Pathways, Alyssa P. Clay, Rachel E. Cooke, Ravi Kumar, Mahipal Yadav, Ramanarayanan Krishnamurthy, and Greg Springsteen
Polydopamine: a bioinspired adhesive and surface modification platform, Hannah Feinberg and Timothy W. Hanks
Hydrogen-Bond Topology is More Important than Acid/Base Strength in Atmospheric Prenucleation Clusters, Shannon E. Harold, Conor J. Bready, Leah A. Juechter, Luke A. Kurfman, Sara Vanovac, Vance R. Fowler, Grace E. Mazaleski, Tuguldur T. Odbadrakh, and George C. Shields
Photochemistry and Photophysics of Charge-Transfer Excited States in Emissive d10/d0 Heterobimetallic Titanocene Tweezer Complexes, Henry C. London, David Y. Pritchett, Jared A. Pienkos, Colin D. McMillen, Thomas J. Whittemore, Conor J. Bready, Alexis R. Myers, Noah C. Vieira, Shannon Harold, George C. Shields, and Paul S. Wagenknecht
Role of the Trifluoropropynyl Ligand in Blue-Shifting Charge-Transfer States in Emissive Pt Diimine Complexes and an Investigation into the PMMA-Imposed Rigidoluminescence and Rigidochromism, Jackson S. McCarthy, Mary Jo McCormick, John H. Zimmerman, H. Rhodes Hambrick, Wilson M. Thomas, Colin D. McMillen, and Paul S. Wagenknecht
Mass Spectroscopy Imaging of Hair Strands Captures Short-Term and Long-Term Changes in Emtricitabine Adherence, Joseph N. Mwangi, William M. Gilliland Jr., Nicole R. White, Craig Sykes, Amanda Poliseno, Kelly A. Knudtson, Lisa Hightow-Weidman, Angela D. M. Kasuba, and Elias P. Rosen
Prebiotic synthesis of α-amino acids and orotate from α-ketoacids potentiates transition to extant metabolic pathways, Sunil Pulletikurti, Mahipal Yadav, Greg Springsteen, and Ramanarayanan Krishnamurthy
Physical Chemistry Research in the Shields Lab by Goldwater Scholars: Including Lessons Learned, George C. Shields
Submissions from 2021
Monomers of Glycine and Serine Have a Limited Ability to Hydrate in the Atmosphere, Benjamin T. Ball, Sara Vanovac, Tuguldur T. Odbadrah, and George C. Shields
Adenine Radical Cation Formation by a Ligand-Centered Excited State of an Intercalated Chromium Polypyridyl Complex Leads to Enhanced DNA Photo-oxidation, Frederico A. Baptista, Dorottya Krizsan, Mark Stitch, Igor V. Sazanovich, Ian P. Clark, Michael Towrie, Conor Long, Lara Martinez-Fernandez, Roberto Improta, Noel Kane-Maguire, John M. Kelly, and Susan J. Quinn
Glyphosate and Polyoxyethyleneamine Ingestion Leading to Renal, Hepatic, and Pulmonary Failure, Jessica A. Bigner, Steven E. Fiester, James W. Fulcher, Christine M.G. Schammel, Michael E. Ward, Harmonie E. Burney, John F. Wheeler, Sandy K. Wheeler, and Julie M. Teuber
Insights into the Charge-Transfer Character of Electronic Transitions in RCp2Ti(C2Fc)2 Complexes using Solvatochromism, Resonance Raman Spectroscopy, and TDDFT, Elizabeth S. Carlton, Joshua J. Sutton, Ariel G. Gale, George C. Shields, Keith C. Gordon, and Paul S. Wagenknecht